Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Sweet Tooth Favorite

I have a serious sweet tooth, which is why I have 3 favorite desserts; ice cream, cakes and cookies. My favorite cookies are Chocolate Chip Cookies, but the funny thing is I don't like too many chocolate chips in them. I want at least two good bites with no chocolate in them.

That is why I developed my own cookie recipe almost 10 years ago. These chocolate chip cookies have been through a lot. I share them with friends, bring them to potlucks and always with rave reviews.

When I lived in Corvallis I started a small business called Ida Goods. I would bake at night and deliver to businesses in the morning. Eventually Interzone, a coffee shop, opened up their kitchen to me. I baked for them in the early morning, then delivered to the local co-op and the Oregon State University campus store. I would deliver vegan tempeh turnovers, muffins, coffee cake, scones, pizzas and cookies. The cookies were by far the most popular.

OSU started to request my cookies for catered events. I would deliver hundreds of them at a time and they were always well received. No one ever knew they were vegan, unless they knew me.

photo courtesy of Food Fight!

At Food Fight!'s first anniversary, they hosted a vegan chocolate chip cookie contest judged by Dennis Kucinich. I was really scared. I was so proud of these cookies the idea of them not winning would have been heart breaking. But luckily my heart did not break that day since Dennis Kucinich raised my cookie with his arm to declare it the winner! I had mini-dreams of catering for the white house.

My cookie is like a child to me. I care for it, I am proud of it, and I watch it grow, all the while with people enjoying them. So I want to share them with you! They are great for potlucks, to bring camping, on a road trip or just when you are craving a good cookie.

Cream together sugar with margarine and oil. Add in vanilla and soy milk and blend some more. Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend with an electric mixer until just combined. Add in chocolate chips and finish blending all ingredients.

These are sooo good! I just baked some for some high school students. The cookies don't really brown, so I left some in for 15-16 minutes, which turned out crunchy and yummy, while the 12-14 minute ones were nice and chewy.